Herpetology Notes, volume 6: (2013) (published online on 23 August 2013)

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1 Herpetology Notes, volume 6: (2013) (published online on 23 August 2013) Overview of the distribution of snakes of the genus Thamnodynastes (Dipsadidae) in northeastern Brazil, with new records and remarks on their morphometry and pholidosis Rafael Damasceno Fernandes Coelho 1,2, Kariny de Souza 1,2, Alisson Guedes Weider 1, 2, Luiz Cezar Machado Pereira 1, 2 and Leonardo Barros Ribeiro 1,2,* The genus Thamnodynastes (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) currently comprises 19 valid species, eleven of which occur in Brazil (Bérnils and Costa, 2012): T. almae (Franco and Ferreira, 2002), T. chaquensis (Bergna and Alvarez, 1993), T. hypoconia (Cope, 1860), T. lanei (Bailey, Thomas and Silva-Jr., 2005), T. longicaudus (Franco et al., 2003), T. naterreri (Mikan, 1828), T. pallidus (Linnaeus, 1758), T. sertanejo (Bailey, Thomas and Silva-Jr., 2005), T. strigatus (Gunther, 1858), T. ramonriveroi (Manzanilla and Sánchez, 2005) and T. rutilus (Prado, 1942). There are new species currently in the description phase, previously denominated as T. sp. 1, T. sp. 2 and T. sp. 3 (Franco and Ferreira, 2002). Snakes of the genus Thamnodynastes are small to medium-sized, viviparous, with opistoglyph dentition and vertically elliptical pupil, suggesting nocturnal and crepuscular habits. They feed primarily on amphibians, and occasionally on fish, lizards and small mammals (Ruffato, Di-Bernardo and Fabiano, 2003; Manzanilla and Sánchez, 2005). Species of Thamnodynastes are distributed in South America from approximately 10 N in Colombia (Pérez-Santos and Moreno, 1989) to 37 S in Argentina (Bellagamba and Vega, 1996). Here we provide new data on the geographic distribution of T. almae, T. sertanejo and T. sp. 2 in northeastern Brazil. We also present data on their morphology, size, and pholidosis. 1 Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco - UNIVASF, Campus Ciências Agrárias, CEP , Petrolina, PE, Brasil. 2 Centro de Conservação e Manejo de Fauna da Caatinga (CEMAFAUNA-CAATINGA), Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco - UNIVASF, Rodovia BR 407, km 12, Lote 543, s/nº - C1, CEP , Petrolina, PE, Brasil. *Corresponding author: leonardo.ribeiro@univasf.edu.br The literature reports 14 records of T. almae and T. sertanejo for the states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia, and Minas Gerais (Figure 1). We collected specimens of T. almae (N=24), T. sertanejo (N=14) and T. sp. 2 (N=35) from July 2008 to November 2012 in additional municipalities in the states of Ceará, Paraíba, and Pernambuco (Figure 2). The specimens were gathered during faunal rescues and monitoring plans for water dams in the São Francisco river diversion project (designed to supply water to about 12 million people in 390 municipalities in the states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Pernambuco by 2025). All collection sites lie in the Caatinga biome. Voucher specimens are deposited in the Coleção de Herpetologia of the Museu de Fauna da Caatinga at the Centro de Conservação e Manejo de Fauna da Caatinga (CEMAFAUNA-CAATINGA/UNIVASF), in Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil Thamnodynastes almae (Figure 3) is large (mean SLV of females was ± mm, range = mm, mean tail length was 84.8 ± 27.4 mm, range = mm; mean SVL of males was ± 96.5 mm, range = mm, mean tail length was 86.1 ± 28.1 mm, range = mm), normally yellowish clear-brown, exhibiting immaculate mental and gular regions, with a pattern of ventral lines (normally 6) reducing to 4 after the cloaca on the subcaudal scales. The rows of dorsal scales follow the formula , displaying keels mainly in the vertebral region of the posterior third of the body. The type locality is the municipality of Rodelas, Bahia. This species has additional records for the following states: Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Alagoas. We present here a compilation of known geographic distribution data for this species, based on eight records in the literature (Appendix I).

2 356 Rafael Damasceno Fernandes Coelho et al. Figure 1. Published geographic distribution of Thamnodynastes almae (black circles), T. sertanejo (black triangles) and T. sp. 2 (black stars) in Brazil: Ceará (CE), Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Paraíba (PB), Pernambuco (PE), Alagoas (AL), Sergipe (SE), Bahia (BA), Minas Gerais (MG). Colour symbols are new records. See Appendices I, II and III for explanation of the numbers. Figure 2. New records for T. almae (green circles), T. sertanejo (blue triangles) and T. sp. 2 (red stars) collected in the municipalities of north-eastern Brazil for this study: Ceará (CE), Paraíba (PB), and Pernambuco (PE). Black symbols are records from literature. See Appendices I, II and III for explanation of the numbers.

3 Overview of the distribution of snakes of the genus Thamnodynastes 357 Figure 3. Thamnodynastes almae: A- Ventral pattern with two pairs of lines, plus one or two additional lines, reducing to two pairs in the tail; B- Immaculate mental and gular regions; CLateral view of head, D- Keeled dorsal scales. Figure 4. Thamnodynastes sertanejo: A- Ventral pattern without lines; B- Mental and gular regions with a few dark spots; C- Lateral view of head; D- Smooth dorsal scales. Thamnodynastes sertanejo (Figure 4) is also a large species (mean SLV of females was ± 66.8 mm, range = mm and tail length of ± 25.9 mm, range = mm; mean SVL of males was ± 47.2 mm, range = mm and tail length of ± 18.0 mm, range = ), greyish, with the gular region sometimes yellowish. It exhibits a checkerboard pattern in the dorsal region near the head, which it reveals when it flattens itself dorsoventrally in a hood display similar to that of T. longicaudus (Franco et al., 2003). The rows of dorsal scales follow the formula Despite similar formulae, T. sertanejo differs from T. pallidus by a divided cloacal scale. It is also distinguished by a large number of subcaudal scales (females: and males: 76-96) and for not displaying a pattern of lines on its venter, but rather a mixed pattern. The type locality is Jaguarari, Bahia. This species also has records for the states of Ceará, Pernambuco and Minas Gerais. We present here a compilation of known geographic distribution data for the species, based on six records in the literature (Appendix II). After analyzing specimens of T. almae and T. sertanejo, we obtained a third group of individuals with a number of distinct traits. These could have been from the species T. strigatus or T. sp. 2, since both have very similar pholidosis. Francisco L. Franco (currently working on the description of new species of the genus Thamnodynastes) confirmed that the species was T. sp. 2 (Figure 5) (mean SLV of females was ± 36.3 mm, range = mm and tail length of 73.8 ± Figure 5. Thamnodynastes sp. 2: A- Ventral pattern with two pairs of lines, maintaining the same two pairs in the tail; BMental and gular regions blackened; C- Lateral view of head with infralabial half white scales; D- Smooth dorsal scales.

4 mm, range = mm; mean SVL of males was ± 53.9 mm, range = mm and tail length of 70.1 ± 13.0 mm, range = ). The dorsal scale row formula in T. sp. 2 ( ) differs from that of T. sertanejo ( ). Thamnodynastes sp. 2 differs from T. almae by its smooth dorsal scales and the blackish gular and mental regions. The two records in the literature for T. sp. 2 are presented in Appendix III. The record in the state of Pernambuco for T. almae in Floresta is 45 km from its type locality in Rodelas, Bahia (Franco and Ferreira, 2002) and that of T. sertanejo in Salgueiro is 32 km from the nearest collection site in Jati, Ceará (Roberto et al., 2009) (Figure 2). On the other hand, Sertânia, Pernambuco is the furthest record for T. almae that is 410 km from Itiúba, Bahia, and 185 km from its type locality in Rodelas, Bahia. The record of T. sertanejo from Sertânia is 350 km from its type locality in Jaguarari, Bahia, and 1060 km from the furthest site in Jaíba, Minas Gerais. With respect to T. sp. 2, we consider the records of Juazeiro and Mucugê (Freitas and Silva, 2007), in the state of Bahia, as the nearest to ours in Petrolina, Pernambuco, 15 km and 417 km respectively. According to Franco and Ferreira (2002), T. sp. 2 is distributed in the Caatingas domain in northeastern Brazil (Ab Saber, 1974), in the São Francisco river drainage areas and coastal drainage regions in the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia. With the exception of our records in Petrolina, Cabrobó and Floresta, Pernambuco, on the banks of the São Francisco River, Mauriti in Ceará, and Salgueiro and Sertânia in Pernambuco, are the localities furthest from the São Francisco river drainage areas (Figure 2). All the occurrences of the three species of Thamnodynastes reported here are within the Caatinga morphoclimatic domain. We call attention to the sympatry between T. almae and T. sertanejo in Custódia, Pernambuco and Paulo Afonso, Bahia, T. almae and T. sp. 2 in Floresta, Pernambuco, and T. almae, T. sertanejo and T. sp. 2 in Cabrobó, Salgueiro and Sertânia, Pernambuco. Acknowledgements. We thank the Ministério da Integração Nacional for financial support, the Center for Conservation and Management of Caatinga Fauna (CEMAFAUNA-CAATINGA) for logistics support, Francisco L. Franco for confirming the species of Thamnodynastes, and an anonymous reviewer for constructive suggestions. Collecting permits (Permits: 042/2007, 125.r/2010 and 95/2012, Processes n / and /94-54) were granted by Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA). References Rafael Damasceno Fernandes Coelho et al. Ab Saber, A.N. (1974): O domínio morfoclimático semiárido das caatingas brasileiras. Geomorfologia 43: Bailey, J.R., Thomas, R.A., Silva-Jr., N.J. (2005): A revision of the South American snake genus Thamnodynastes Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes, Colubridae, Tachymenini). I. Two new species of Thamnodynastes from Central Brazil and adjacent areas, with a redefinition of and neotype designation for Thamnodynastes pallidus (Linnaeus, 1758). Phyllomedusa 4: Bellagamba, P.J., Vega, L.E. (1996): Geographic Distribution - Thamnodynastes hypoconia (Cateye Coluber). Herpetological Review 27: 36. Bérnils, R.S., Costa H.C. (orgs.) (2012): Brazilian reptiles - List of species. Available at: Last accessed on 21 February Franco, F.L., Ferreira, T.G. (2002): Descrição de uma nova espécie de Thamnodynastes Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes, Colubridae) do nordeste brasileiro, com comentários sobre o gênero. Phyllomedusa 1: Franco, F.L., Ferreira, T.G., Marques, O.A.V., Sazima, I. (2003): A new species of hood-displaying Thamnodynastes (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Atlantic forest in southeast Brazil. Zootaxa 334: 1-7. Freitas, M.A., Silva, T.F.S. (2007): Guia ilustrado: a herpetofauna das Caatingas e áreas de altitudes do nordeste brasileiro. Pelotas, Editora USEB. Guedes, T.B. (2010): Geographic Distribution - Thamnodynastes almae. Herpetological Review 41 (2): 245. Gunther, A. (1858): Catalogue of Colubrine snakes in the collection of the British museum. London, British Museum. Jorge, J.S., Freire, E.M.X. (2011): Geographic Distribution - Thamnodynastes almae. Herpetological Review 42: 396. Manzanilla, J., Sánchez, D. (2005): Una nueva especie de Thamnodynastes (Serpentes: Colubridae) del macizo del Turimiquire, noreste de Venezuela. Memoria de la Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales : Prado, A. (1942): Serpentes do gênero Dryophylax, com a descrição de uma nova espécie. Revista Hispano-Americana de Ciencias Puras y Aplicadas, III: Pérez-Santos, C., Moreno, A.G. (1989): Una nueva especie de Thamnodynastes (Serpentes: Colubridae) en el norte de Colombia. Bolletino del Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali 7: 1-9. Roberto, I.J., Brito, P.T.P., Ribeiro, S.C., Melo, J.C.L. (2009): Geographic Distribution - Thamnodynastes sertanejo. Herpetological Review 40: 239. Roberto, I.J., Ribeiro, S.C., and Melo, J.C.L. (2009): Geographic Distribution - Thamnodynastes almae. Herpetological Review 40: 239. Ruffato, R., Di-Bernardo, M., and Fabiano, G. (2003): Dieta de Thamnodynastes strigatus (Serpentes, Colubridae) no sul do Brasil. Phyllomedusa 2: Silveira, A.L., Cotta, G.A. (2006): Geographic Distribution - Thamnodynastes sertanejo. Herpetological Review 37: 364.

5 Overview of the distribution of snakes of the genus Thamnodynastes 359 Appendix I. Known occurrence localities of Thamnodynastes almae in Brazil, based on the literature. States: BA (Bahia), AL (Alagoas), PE (Pernambuco), PB (Paraíba), RN (Rio Grande do Norte), CE (Ceará). Acronyms: CHBEZ- Coleção Herpetológica do Departamento de Botânica, Ecologia e Zoologia/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, IB and IBSP- Instituto Butantan, MFCH- Coleção de Herpetologia do Museu de Fauna da Caatinga, MZUFBA- Museu de Zoologia da Universidade Federal da Bahia, MZUSP- Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, UFPB- Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Municipality (Locality) State Latitude ( S) Longitude ( W) Voucher number Reference 1. Santa Maria (Fazenda Tanques) RN CHBEZ (Jorge and Freire, 2011). 2. Cabaceiras (Fazenda Bravo) PB UFPB 4263 (Guedes, 2010) 3. Milagres CE IBSP (Roberto, Ribeiro, and Melo, 2009) 6. Rodelas (Usina Hidrelétrica Luiz Gonzaga) BA - - IB (Franco and Ferreira, 2002) 7. Petrolândia PE IB (Guedes, 2010) 8. Paulo Afonso BA MZUFBA (Guedes, 2010) 9. Piranhas AL MZUFBA 847 (Guedes, 2010) 12. Itiúba BA MZUSP (Guedes, 2010) 16. Cabrobó PE MFCH 1847, 1862 This study 17. Salgueiro PE MFCH 1867 This study 19. São José de Piranhas PB MFCH 1870 This study 20. Floresta PE MFCH , , 1865, This study 21. Custódia PE MFCH 1848, This study 22. Sertânia PE MFCH , 1866 This study 1 Appendix II. Known occurrence localities of Thamnodynastes sertanejo in Brazil, based on the literature. States: MG (Minas Gerais), BA (Bahia), PE (Pernambuco), CE (Ceará). Acronyms: FUNED- Fundação Ezequiel Dias, IBSP- Instituto Butantan, MFCH- Coleção de Herpetologia do Museu de Fauna da Caatinga, MNRJ- Museu Nacional, MZUSP- Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo. 1 Municipality (Locality) State Latitude ( S) Longitude ( W) Voucher number Reference 4. Jati CE IBSP (Roberto et al., 2009) 5. Exu PE - - MZUSP (Bailey et al., 2005) 8. Paulo Afonso (Usina Hidrelétrica Itaparica) BA FUNED 244 (Silveira and Cotta, 2006) 10. Juazeiro BA (Freitas and Silva, 2007) 11. Jaguarari (Mina Caraíba) BA IBSP (Bailey et al., 2005) 14. Jaíba MG Cabrobó PE FUNED 907, MNRJ 8048 MFCH 1910, 1913, 1915, 1918 (Silveira and Cotta, 2006) This study 17. Salgueiro PE MFCH 1914, 1921 This study 21. Custódia PE MFCH This study 22. Sertânia PE MFCH 1917, , 1922 This study 23. Terra Nova PE MFCH 1916 This study

6 360 Rafael Damasceno Fernandes Coelho et al. Appendix III. Known occurrence localities of Thamnodynastes sp. 2 in Brazil, based on the literature. States: BA (Bahia), PE (Pernambuco), CE (Ceará). Acronym: MFCH- Coleção de Herpetologia do Museu de Fauna da Caatinga. Municipality (Locality) State Latitude ( S) Longitude ( W) Voucher number Reference 10. Juazeiro BA (Freitas and Silva, 2007) 13. Mucugê BA (Freitas and Silva, 2007) 15. Petrolina PE MFCH This study 16. Cabrobó PE MFCH , This study 17. Salgueiro PE MFCH , 1900 This study 18. Mauriti CE MFCH , 1898 This study 20. Floresta PE MFCH , 1884, 1888, , 1899 This study 22. Sertânia PE MFCH 1889, 1895 This study 1 Accepted by Zoltán T. Nagy